What to Tell Your Employees About Career Security

Transcription

1 What to Tell Your Employees About Career Security by Anne Baber & Lynne Waymon Everybody s afraid of it. Nobody knows what to do about it. It turns team members into competitors. It saps energy. It cramps creativity. It lowers morale. What is it? Career insecurity! The constant fear of downsizing, mergers, and outsourcing debilitates and distresses the very people you re counting on to get the job done. If your organization has laid people off, employees fear that lightning will strike twice in the same place. If your organization has avoided a layoff, people worry that their workplace is next. Nearly everyone in America knows a family member, friend, or neighbor who s been let go. No industry or arena (including government) seems immune to the epidemic. As the pundits argue about the details of economic forecasts, most employers concede that the promise of a gold watch has been replaced by the possibility of a pink slip. So, what should you tell your employees to help them take charge of their own careers and prepare for an uncertain future? In this article, we ll highlight the difference between job security and career security. We ll suggest five things to tell your employees about how to create selfpropelled, long-term career security. And we ll show what you can do and say to encourage employees to be eager to stay and prepared to go. In the old model of job security employees felt they could depend on one employer and one job title. As someone was overheard to say on the subway one morning, I ve only got 14 more years left. It s a hang on, head-in-the-sand, hope it skips over me outlook on work. And it serves neither employer nor employee.

2 In the new model of career security, employees can focus all their resources and energy on being ready to make a living no matter what organizational earthquakes erupt. If the whole operation moves to Dallas, or the powers that be decide to outsource a whole department, the career-secure employee is ready to face his or her freed-up future. What to do? Coach people in your organization to accept and act on the following five strategies so that no matter what happens to their jobs, their careers will be alive and well. 1. Help people become psychologically self-employed. When each person you manage owns his or her career, no matter who s currently signing the paycheck, each of them will be less dependent on you, less wedded to the old single employer mindset. In today s workplace we re all contractors, not employees. Don t fall into the trap of thinking, Well, if I encourage independence, won t they be less loyal and more likely to jump ship? Actually the opposite is true. When people understand that career security and advancement are up to them, they become better contributors on the job. Why? For two reasons: First, they re more likely to keep their skills current, and second, they tend to position themselves as players, not observers. That means they won t stand around wasting your time and theirs saying, When will they...? or Why don t they? or I told them three years ago they should have... The paradox is that when people are prepared to go, it s easier for them to exhibit eager to stay behaviors and mean it! Acknowledge openly that long term job security is gone, but remind people that opportunity is here to stay. Reward people who look for problems to solve and markets to serve, both inside and outside the organization. Encourage them to get out of the box called my job. Coach them to venture out into the white space on the organizational chart to collaborate with people in other departments by solving problems or creating internal alliances that better serve the customer or boost the bottom line. The new security resides in the person, not the position. Need more proof that times are changing? A major insurance company once advised: Get a piece of the rock. More recently the message has been: Be your own rock. Tell employees to focus on promoting their talents, not their titles. Coach them to answer the What do you do question? in a way that showcases their expertise. Encourage employees to give an answer that teaches people internally and externally what to count on them for instead of automatically reeling off the name of the organization or their job title.

3 Instead of I m Director of Training for XYZ Corporation, a better answer is, I help high tech professionals keep their skills current. I just managed a four-day convention with 75 workshops for 1,500 people. 2. Advise them to keep their skills market-ready. Remind people that if they want to be less expendable, they must expand their skills. Gone are the days when it s the employer s responsibility to say, It s time for training. Now, it s each person s job to look for their skill gaps and close them. As the old saying goes: "Live as if you ll die tomorrow; learn as if you ll live forever." Here s a sobering question to pose to employees: If you had to interview for a job tomorrow morning, what s the one question you d hate to be asked? That s the area of learning to tackle first. Encourage them to take personal responsibility for their own development. That means learning not only for their current job, but for their next job. If the organization doesn t provide the training they think they need, counsel them to find a course elsewhere. Encourage employees to cultivate keep up to date in three areas: with technological tools, with job-specific skills, and with portable, transferable skills. Technological tools include skills such as blogging, or tracking budgets and expenditures on an accounting software package. Jobspecific skills are those things only people in their profession or job type need to know how to do. Transferable, portable skills are used in almost every job. Good examples are negotiating, problem- solving, coaching, and giving effective presentations. While it s a struggle to find time to keep up with this imperative for learning, you can remind employees about available aids, such as tuition reimbursement, on-line courses, and even lunchtime seminars for informal study of new ideas. One company schedules monthly lunchtime briefings for their staff. Experts on everything from new technologies to networking for career success are invited to speak for one hour. A nonprofit organization hosts Chips and Bits Cookie Breaks every Friday afternoon. One of their staff members gives a 10-minute tutorial on how to use a new techie tool. The Wharton Business School sums it up in their ad: The only job for life is learning. 3. Suggest ways for them to safeguard their financial futures by planning ahead. When the worry of job loss looms, often the scariest part is considering what would happen financially. To alleviate unproductive anxiety, people should be prepared to survive occasional periods of "paychecklessness." When people make financial decisions that support them, instead of trap them, they feel more secure. People who live under, not over their

4 means, have more options when a job crisis occurs. As one employee put it, I learned I have to act my wage. Help employees come out of their financial fog by encouraging them to use all of the organization s benefits. Are they taking advantage of the 401 K? Could they improve their job security by getting more education, paid for with tuition benefits? Might the organization host a series of lunchtime seminars on financial planning? The basic financial question for us all in this consumer-oriented society is, How can I spend less, earn more, and manage better? Although personal finances are a private matter, you need to make sure your employees are aware of all the organizational support systems and resources that will help them answer that question. 4. Encourage people to develop. As the old saying goes: It s a wise mouse who never entrusts his life to one hole only. Make it acceptable in your organization for people to be on the lookout for new departments, arenas, and ways to apply their skills, so they re ready to change jobs or careers when they want to... or have to. As the organizational pyramid flattens to a pancake, or at least a smaller mountain to climb, the clever career-minded person knows there are plenty of places to go beside up. Counsel your employees to look for emerging job types, adjacent fields, lateral moves, and special projects. One staffer knew her organization was expanding internationally. Over a two-and-a-half-year period, she learned the skills and developed the contacts that positioned her as the natural choice for a one-year assignment in Madrid. 5. Make sure people build safety net(works). Networking has become a professional competency. Teach the skills it takes to create, cultivate, and capitalize on internal and external contacts. Strategic networking will help get the job done and serve the customer. And your employees will have a network in place should they ever need to launch a job search. Anyone can learn how to make networking an art... not an accident. Whether they were born with the gift of gab or not, your employees can learn to exchange information, resources, and support in a way that builds strong business relationships. Most people attend networking events wondering whether they re being too pushy or too passive. They worry, What should I talk about? When should I give out my business card? What will make this worth the time and money? Teach them that the best way to start and maintain a relationship is to focus on give first not me first. Remind them to listen

5 generously and think, What resource do I know of that this person might be able to use? Whom do I know that this person might like to meet? Encourage your staffers to join their professional or trade associations. Membership is an obvious step for anyone who thinks the future might hold a career change. Some people wrongly decide to drop their memberships as a way to save money. What percentage of your staff are active members, reaping the benefits available to them - and your organization - from professional contacts and educational programs? Your attitudes and actions will set the pace as people in your organization adjust their beliefs and behaviors to the realities of the new workplace. When you switch from defending the disappearance of job security, to initiating dialog about what constitutes the new career security, you ll be empowering people in your organization to be eager to stay and prepared to go. Sidebar: Rate Your Readiness for the New Career Security Mindset To kick off your discussions of the new career mindset, give your employees this quiz. More than two No s is a strong signal that it s time for them to strengthen their career security. 1. I answer What do you do? by telling my skills and accomplishments rather than by giving my job title or name of my organization. 2. I have initiated my attendance at two in-house and one or more outside training programs in the past year. 3. I am highly visible in one or more professional associations and attend more than half their meetings. 4. I keep track of trends affecting my organization and profession. 5. I ve had an active role in helping at least one friend or colleague find a job or change careers in the last year. 6. I participate in a savings plan or 401K. 7. I ve applied for another job within the past two years. 8. I have a recently-conferred advanced degree or professional/job credential, or am working on one. 9. I have a significant outside activity (volunteer, hobby, etc.) that could be developed into a career. 10. I ve lost an assignment due to circumstances beyond my control and then found another job with the same or better salary and opportunity for professional growth.